Stephen Wheatley Price

The English language fluency and occupational success of ethnic minority immigrant men living in English metropolitan areas

Abstract. This paper examines two crucial aspects of the assimilation experience of ethnic minority immigrants in the United Kingdom. It explores the determinants of their English language (speaking) fluency and the key role such skills play in their occupational success. Our sample is derived from the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities undertaken in 1994. Uniquely this data contains an interviewer-assessed measure of English language fluency. Importantly, we also attempt to control for possible endogeneity bias in the estimates of the effect of language fluency on occupational success. We find that fluency is associated with significantly higher mean hourly occupational wages.

The employment adjustment of male immigrants in England

Abstract. In this paper the employment performance of native and foreign born men in England is examined, using 1993–1994 data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey of the United Kingdom. Chiswicks (1982) hypotheses of immigrant employment adjustment are investigated using logistic regression analysis. We show that there are interesting and important employment effects arising from immigrant characteristics. Recent white immigrants experience a transitory employment disadvantage. However non-white immigrants never attain employment equality with native born white men. Education, potential experience, family characteristics and country of birth are also found to be important determinants of employment.

Job Search Methods and their Success: A Comparison of Immigrants and Natives in the UK

A major issue in the immigration debate concerns whether immigrants take jobs away from natives. In this paper, we present new evidence on the job search methods used by immigrants, and the success of immigrants relative to natives in gaining employment through the different job search methods, in the UK context. Our main findings are (1) that immigrant job search is less successful than that of natives using all job search methods, (2) that immigrants are at least as likely to gain employment through informal job search methods as via verifiable routes and (3) that the probability of successful job search increases with years since migration. Our findings imply that immigrants may not effectively compete for jobs with natives, which may help to explain why immigration has been found to have little impact on native employment in the UK.

The Determinants of Racial Harassment at the Workplace: Evidence from the British Nursing Profession

This paper examines which individual and work-related characteristics increase the probability of an employee being racially harassed at the workplace using a unique sample of NHS nurses. The reported incidence of racial harassment at the workplace is staggeringly high - 8.9 per cent of all nurses report such episodes involving work colleagues and 22.4 per cent have experienced such abuse from patients (or their families). Nurses who are young, male or from the ethnic minorities are the most likely to be affected. The findings have important implications for equal opportunities policies and the retention of nursing staff in the NHS. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics 2002.

The unemployment experience of male immigrants in England

In this paper the unemployment experience of immigrant men in the English labour market is examined, using 1993–1994 data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey of the United Kingdom. Hypotheses proposed by Chiswick (1982) are investigated, for both the claimant count and the ILO measures of unemployment, using logistic regression analysis. Our results show that recent white and nonwhite immigrant men experience much higher levels of unemployment than earlier cohorts. For whites, this effect is transitory, whereas for nonwhites unemployment rates adjust more slowly as the duration of stay increases. Immigrant unemployment rates also vary considerably with country of birth.

Ethnic Differences in the Incidence and Determinants of Employer-funded Training in Britain

Non-white full-time employees were offered, and undertook, less training than whites in Britain in 1993-94, according to data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey. Estimates of the determinants of training outcomes and training offers show a marked consistency across white and non-white, male and female, employees. Over 90% of the average predicted training outcome differential, and 50%-60% of the difference in mean predicted training offers, cannot be explained by differences in observable characteristics between white and non-white employees. These findings suggest that equal opportunities legislation has been unsuccessful in eliminating unequal access to employer-funded training in Britain. Copyright 1999 by Scottish Economic Society.

Ethnic differences in British employer-funded on and off-the-job training

This paper highlights the lower incidence of employer-funded on and off-the-job training received by full-time ethnic minority employees in Britain. Estimates of the determinants of on and off-the-job training, obtained using trinomial logistic models, are remarkably consistent across white and ethnic minority male and female workers. At least 67% of the male ethnic training disadvantage, and over 94% of that experienced by females, cannot be explained by differences in average group characteristics. These findings raise serious questions about the effectiveness of existing equal opportunities provisions in the area of work-related training and may have adverse implications for the future occupational attainment and wages of ethnic minority employees in Britain.